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Midlife Burnout and the Nervous System: Learning to Lead Differently S1 EP2
Midlife burnout can change everything — your energy, memory, relationships, leadership, and the way you show up at home. In this episode of Messy Midlife, Jody Brooks speaks with Hannah Kerman, founder of Brain Shift, about what it means to operate with your nervous system, not your ego.
Hannah shares how years of overwork, busyness, and trying to belong led to burnout, how stress showed up in her body and family life, and why psychological safety has to be more than a shiny poster on the wall. She also explains her brain-based coaching approach, including presence under pressure, spotting triggers, and aligning values with culture and strategy.
Midlife burnout doesn’t just affect your job — it can affect your body, your memory, your relationships, and the way you lead. In this episode of Messy Midlife, host Jody Brooks speaks with Hannah Kerman, founder of Brain Shift, about what happens when you stop operating from ego and start listening to your nervous system.
Hannah shares the winding path that led her to burnout: a non-linear career, years of overwork, a deep drive to belong, and a life that looked successful on the outside but felt unsustainable beneath the surface. She talks openly about how burnout showed up physically, how family crisis reshaped her priorities, and why recovery became a turning point in both her personal life and her leadership approach.
Together, Jody and Hannah explore brain-based coaching, psychological safety, presence under pressure, triggers, and the importance of aligning values with the way we live and work. They also look at how leaders can create cultures that are more human, more honest, and more grounded in real safety rather than surface-level slogans.
If you’ve ever felt stretched thin, reactive, or disconnected from yourself, this conversation offers a grounded way to think about recovery, leadership, and midlife change. Subscribe to Messy Midlife and visit authenticcoaching.me for more resources.
Connect with Hanna Curman https://hannacurman.se/
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